


Because Of You

by a_ufo_party



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, TGP Secret Santa, birthday surprise, honestly just so much tooth rotting fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 19:31:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13060665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_ufo_party/pseuds/a_ufo_party
Summary: Eleanor sat at the kitchen island, gnawing on her lower lip as she stared down a blank sheet of paper.Well, not completely blank. At the top, she had scrawled, “ideas” in bright green ink.Realizing that at hour had gone by without doing anything productive, she then added, “for Chidi’s birthday” underneath.That morning, Michael had informed her that Chidi’s birthday was fast approaching and that, as his soulmate, she gets to plan the party!“Gets to,” implying it is an honor, and not her actual worst nightmare.





	Because Of You

**Author's Note:**

> Written for zoemonroe on tumblr for The Good Place Secret Santa! Hope you like it. It was really fun to write! <3

_**Takes place in one of the reboots! Chidi and Eleanor are living together in an established relationship, and Chidi has been teaching her ethics lessons...** _

* * *

 

Eleanor sat at the kitchen island, gnawing on her lower lip as she stared down a blank sheet of paper.

Well, not completely blank. At the top, she had scrawled, “ideas” in bright green ink. 

Realizing that at hour had gone by without doing anything productive, she then added, “for Chidi’s birthday” underneath. 

That morning, Michael had informed her that Chidi’s birthday was fast approaching and that, as his soulmate, she gets to plan the party!

“Gets to,” implying it is an honor, and not her actual worst nightmare. The closest she had ever come to planning a party was her senior year of college when her boyfriend had stopped by with his friends unexpectedly and she put a frozen pizza in the oven. At the time, she had felt like a forking homemaker. But here, among the perfect human beings who led perfect lives and attended perfect parties on the regular, she felt like a joke. 

Luckily, Chidi had been given a job teaching at a university down the road (because some forking nerds wanted to attend classes even after death. Eleanor could not even begin to relate.) so she had several hours to come up with an idea. Unluckily, she had spent four of those hours choosing what color of gel pen to write with. So now, her soulmate would likely be home in under an hour.

With a heavy sigh, she rolled off of the stool and called for Janet.

“Hello!” The assistant beamed, appearing behind her.

Spinning around, Eleanor slapped on a casual grin. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about party planning, would you babe?”

Mirroring the grin, Janet leaned forward. “As a matter of fact, I know  _ everything  _ about party planning! What’s the occasion?”

“It’s Chidi’s birthday tomorrow, and I’m supposed to plan his party but…”

“But what?”

“I have no ideas. So, could you help a girl out?”

“Hm...well, in the past 0.23 seconds, I have read fifty thousand party planning books and they all agree on one thing.”

“Which is?”

“The party should be catered to the guest of honor. Meaning, of course, that you should just think about Chidi and what he likes.”

“Okay, so...books? He likes books. And classical music, the kind that plays in hotel elevators.” She grimaced. “So...is there an elevator in a library near by? We could get a bunch of people to go ride in it and-No, that wouldn’t work, he hates small spaces.”

“Well, there  _ is  _ a library in town, but I’m afraid it is a antique design and has no working electricity, only stairs and ladders. Fun!”

“Okay, well, what about-”

She was interrupted by the front door opening.

“Oh shirt, that’s him. Get lost, Janet.” Eleanor hissed, shoving the idea notebook into her bra.

“Okay!” Janet smiled. And in the blink of an eye, she was gone.

Still completely clueless about what to do, the blond young woman sulked into the front room to greet her soulmate. “Hey, Chidi. How was work?”

To her surprise, the professor was sitting on the couch, looking thoroughly miserable. 

At her voice, he looked up and his shoulders sagged. “Hello, Eleanor. Work was…”

A beat passed.

“Work was..?”

For another moment, he pressed his lips together, thinking. Then, he sighed. “I’m trying not to lie.”

“So don’t.” Seating herself beside him, she felt a pang of worry. It was very rare for him to get home from work and not be ecstatic. Normally, she had to kiss him to get him to shut up about that day’s discussion. And sometimes he would just keep prattling on about some such philosopher against her lips. To be honest, it had grown on her, but ethics lectures as foreplay was still not her favorite thing in the world.

But now, her soulmate looked more beaten down than she had ever seen him before.

“Fine. Work was terrible. But, it’ll all be over soon. I’m going to resign.”

Eyebrows furrowing, Eleanor shook her head. “Why would you do that?” 

“Because I have failed my students. I am an abominable professor and unfit to educate others.”

“Okay, slow down, sad sack.” Reaching across to loosen his tie, she looked skeptical. “What exactly happened?”

“Life happened, Eleanor.”

“That’s deep. You sound like my bench cousin Tammy who started taking yoga and then thought of herself as a spiritual guru.”

“No, you don’t get it! I have been dead for...goodness knows how long. But life hasn’t stopped. Philosophy hasn’t stopped. It’s continued to evolve and advance and I am no longer an expert in the field. So, I’m quitting.” He nodded, a heartbreaking air of finality in his resolve.

“How much could really have happened in the past-what, ten years? I don’t know how fast time passes here.”

Hands shaking, he waved them frantically. “A lot! A lot has happened! In class today, a student asked me my opinion on the works of Liza Krakengard. I don’t know who that is!”

“Welcome to my world, buddy.” Eleanor grinned. “That’s how I feel every forking day with you.”

Eyes widening, Chidi looked horrified. “Oh no.”

“Oh yeah. But really, I don’t think there’s any reason for you to quit over this one hiccup. I mean, I would. But you’re not me. You’re  _ better  _ than me.”

“No, I’m really not.”

“Yeah you are, man. You love this nerd stuff. So, go find Michael and ask him if you can get a crash course on recent philosophy. It would be like...an orgasmic experience for you.”

“To do that would be to admit that I am ill prepared to teach.” He shook his head. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Eleanor. I really do. But I cannot in good conscience continue to teach, when I know I am not providing my students with the best possible education. It wouldn’t be ethical.”

For a moment, the two sat in silence.

Then, Eleanor had an idea.

A forking brilliant idea.

Jumping up from her seat, she tried to contain her grin. “Hey, man, I just...remembered something...I gotta do. I’ll be back for dinner, okay?”

Seemingly too depressed to observe her improved mood, he nodded, eyes glued to the floor. “Yeah, see you later.”

Heading for the door, she paused. “Hey, promise me you won’t resign until I get back.” 

“Don’t worry. It will take me at least the rest of the day to write my letter of resignation.”

“Sheesh. How long do those things have to be?”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never had to write one.”

Wincing at her own insensitivity, Eleanor silently scolded herself.

So, before she left, she crouched down and pressed a quick hiss onto his furrowed brows.

“Hang in there, buddy.”

* * *

 

**_The next day..._ **

Nearly one hundred tiny candles flickered on every possible surface of the dusty, old library. They cast an orange glow onto the thousands of books, illuminating the golden trimmings and reflective leather. In the rafters of the high ceiling, Janet had hung twinkling lanterns, and bouquets of dried flowers which filled the air with a sweet, floral fragrance. And on the creaky, wooden floor was placed a picnic blanket, and record player, with multiple records containing classical music and opera. 

In addition to all of this was a picnic basket, stuffed to the brim with fruit, French pastries, wine, and these little Senegalese cookies called Cinq Centimes, which Eleanor had made herself (because she specifically remembered listening to him go on about how his favorite teacher growing up had used the cookies as leverage to encourage the students to get good grades. Afterwards she had informed him that no peanut cookie could make her spend more than a half hour a day studying, thank you very much.) 

It was all perfectly catered to Chidi, right down to the aisle she had set up the picnic in, and yet…

Eleanor still felt nervous. 

As she stood, clasping a hand written letter in her fingers and awaiting his arrival, she couldn’t help but second guess everything. 

And when Chidi’s voice echoed from the front entrance, she nearly called off the whole thing in favor of a more traditional party.

As his footsteps drew nearer, she watched his face grow more and more confused.

Janet walked beside him, as was planned. She was going to insist that Eleanor needed help with something involving his lesson for her, so he would follow her to the library.

Finally, when the young man was within speaking distance, Janet disappeared with a thumbs up.

“Hey, Chidi.” Eleanor spoke, rocking on her feet nervously.

“Hey...Eleanor. What’s going on?” He lifted an eyebrow.

“Well, Michael told me that today was your birthday, so,” with an anxious grin, she gestured around. “Happy birthday, Chidi!”

For a long moment, he didn’t move, and Eleanor thought her heart would beat out of her chest.

Then, he let out a breath and walked deeper into the library. 

Spinning slowly, the dozens of twinkling lights reflected in his dark eyes. 

“You did all this yourself?” He asked quietly.

“Well, Janet helped…”

After taking in the view, his gaze fell to the picnic basket.

“Are those...Cinq Centimes?” 

“Yep. They took me two hours to make, so I hope you’re happy.” Her words were harsh, but her tone was brittle. As she watched him examine the room, her fists clenched with nerves, leaving little crescent moons in her palms.

Turning to face her, Chidi’s expression melted into a tight lipped smile she had only seen once before. 

It was the expression he had had when Michael had given him a tour of the school he would be teaching at.

A look of such emotion, such heartfelt excitement, that a wave of relief flooded over Eleanor.

Without saying a word, Chidi fell forward and enveloped her in his arms.

“So...you like it?” She murmured into the crook of his neck.

“It’s perfect, Eleanor. Thank you.”

“Hey, slow down, man. You haven’t even read this stupid note I wrote you yet.” Pulling away, she slapped the letter against his chest.

“You wrote me a note?”

“Yeah, and I had Janet check it for grammatical errors, so-oh no, you don’t have to open it right now.” To her horror, the young man began to unfold the paper, his eyes scanning over the words.

_ Chidi, _

_ You said yesterday that you’re not a good teacher. You said that you have failed your students. Well, the purpose of this letter is to call bullshirt on that. Because of you, I have started to think about other people. Because of you, I started tipping waitresses, and stopped cutting in line. Because of you, I was able to plan this forking perfect party with your favorite things in mind. Because of you, I give a shirt about how my action affect other people. That’s not on me, that’s all on you. You are a really good soulmate, and an even better teacher. _

_ And if you decide to resign, then your students will be the worse for it. _

_ Anyway, stay cool, nerd, _

_ Eleanor _

After he was done reading, Chidi looked up, eyebrows cocked in a touched expression.

“Don’t resign, man.” Eleanor said sincerely. “You didn’t give up on me, and I will always be grateful to you for that. So now, I’m not going to give up on you. Because you should treat people the way you want them to treat you-Holy shirt, I just used the golden rule!”

The young man chuckled, bridging the gap between them. “Eleanor, thank you. For everything-”

“Oh, that’s not all! You see this aisle? Well, I had Janet stock it with all of the latest philosophy books. So you and I are gonna pull an all-nighter study session, teach. And, Janet has agreed to keep it replenished forever, so you’ll never be uninformed.” Poking a thumb into her chest, she smirked. “Best. Soulmate. Ever.”

With a look of wordless delight, Chidi was unable to hold back anymore. Lunging forward, he pulled Eleanor to him and kissed her.

She responded at once, stumbling back until she rested against the bookshelf, and stroking his cheek with her thumb. 

They carried on like this for a moment, until Eleanor pulled away slightly.

“Hey, listen, man, hooking up in a library is very hot, but I did kinda set all this up, so do you think maybe we could get to the studying?”

Pressing his forehead to hers, Chidi laughed. “I never thought I’d hear you say that.”

“I am full of surprises.”

“I know you are.” As he spoke, he stared into her eyes with quiet adoration.

It made Eleanor weak in the knees. 

In her life, she had never thought someone like him would look at her like that, and yet here they were.

With a quick peck on the lips, she took his hand and pulled him to the picnic blanket. “Raincheck on that library make-out sesh, okay?”

“Deal.” He grinned, sitting beside her.

And as his calming voice read aloud philosophical texts, and the candles danced around them, Eleanor felt like maybe this was her good place after all.


End file.
